A. Q. Contractor

    Professor

    Department of Chemistry

    Indian Institute of Technology Bombay

    Powai, Mumbai 400076

    Ph:   022-2576 7170

    Fax:  022-2576 7152

    Email: aqcontractor[at]iitb.ac.in

    Group Webpage

Research Interests

 

During the past few years concerted efforts are being made to utilize the remarkable properties of conducting polymers to develop new technologies in collaboration with colleagues in the institute. Thus, a new generic concept for a biosensor has been proposed exploiting the potential and pH dependent conductivity of polyaniline. (This work was described in C&EN, 70(46), 16, 1992) This concept has been used to develop sensors for glucose, urea, triglycerides and hemoglobin. A biosensor array -- electronic tongue -- has been produced to assay glucose, urea and triglycerides simultaneously from a few m l of sample. The concept has recently been extended to use polyaniline to detect the binding of a guest to a macromolecular host. This has resulted in a molecular electronic switch responsive to metal ions. The device can detect K+ ions in aqueous solutions at ppb levels.  

Representative Publications

  1. Conducting Polymer-based Biosensors, A.Q.Contractor, T.N.Suresh Kumar, Rakesh Lal, Raman Srinivasa, R.Narayan and S.Sukeerthi, Electrochim. Acta, 39 (1994) 1321.
  2. Applications of Conducting Polymers as Sensors, S.Sukeerthi and A.Q.Contractor, Ind. J. Chem., 33A (1994) 565.
  3. A Biosensor Array Based On Polyaniline, A.Q.Contractor, P.C. Inamdar, Rakesh Lal, H.Sangodkar, R.S.Srinivasa, S.Sukeerthi, Polym. Mater.Sci. Eng. (1994), 71, 383.
  4. A Biosensor Array based on Polyaniline, H.Sangodkar, S.Sukeerthi, R.S.Srinivasa, R.Lal and A.Q.Contractor, Anal. Chem. 68 (1996) 779.
  5. Conducting Polymers: Novel Materials For Chemical And Bio Sensors, R. Lal,S.Sukeerthi, R.B.Dabke and A.Q.Contractor, Ind. J. Pure and Appl. Phys., 34 (1996) 589, (based on invited talk delivered at the 38th Annual Solid State Physics Symposium of the DAE).
  6. Preparation and Characterization of Mixed LB Films of Polyaniline and Cd arachidate, A.Dhanabalan, R.B.Dabke, S.N.Dutta, N.Prasanth kumar, S.S.Major, S.S.Talwar and A.Q.Contractor, Thin Solid Films, 1997, 295, 255-259.